The WON BASS Mercury Marine/Nitro Boats Pro Circuit rolls into Lake Shasta and the Bridge Bay Resort Thursday, April 1 and while it might be April Fool's Day it won't be fool's gold the field will chase during the two days of competition to follow. Not only will there be cash purses for both the Pro and AAA divisions, but once again Harvey Naslund has staked $10,OOO for the angler who breaks the existing WON BASS pro/am big fish record.

The Shasta record stands at 7.52 pounds and the rules state it has to be beaten by a full tenth of a pound, so it will take a 7.62-pound bass (or better) to take home the 10 Gs. No problem, say Paul Bailey, the current leader in the WON BASS Pro Circuit Angler of the Year race.

"That's doable, you could catch a big spot or even a big largemouth this time of year especially with guys throwing the swimbaits," notes Bailey. "I have friends up at Shasta who have caught 8 or 9 pounders in the last couple weeks."

But haven't Shasta big fish been fed such a steady diet of swimbaits that they won't look at one anymore?

"They'll still eat a swimbait at Shasta, you just have to put it in front of the right pack of fish," says Bailey.

Bailey, now based out of Willits, has been putting swimbaits in front of packs of fish since his fishing days as a youngster in Southern California. His favorite fishing partner is a familiar name in Western bass fishing circles, Shaun Bailey.

"I grew up fishing calico bass with my dad and my brother on my dad's 52-foot Roughwater," said Paul. "When I was 15 my dad lost his job and the boat went away, so my brother and I started bass fishing local lakes. About 10 years ago I started fishing team tournaments with him and said I've got to go for it.

"Shaun was always a little more into competitive bass fishing than I was, I was racing BMX professionally," adds Bailey. "The I had some injuries and I couldn't just sit around an office. So I started fishing pro."

While they're now chasing the same top spot in tournaments, Paul said there was no sibling rivalry when they fished bass together.

"Shaun would always let me catch fish, he would set the boat up for two to cast," says Bailey. "He still naturally sets the boat up for others to fish and it's hurt him since (in tournament circuits that don't have shared weight). He's had a couple 14s and 15s taken out of the back of his boat."

The 2010 Angler of the Year wins a fully rigged Nitro Z-7 with a Mercury outboard and Paul Bailey grabbed the early lead with two top 10 finishes in the first two WON BASS Pro Circuit events -- a 10th place finish at the Delta in February and a third place finish at the recently completed Havasu event.

One reason he finished so high is Havasu is he switched from his usual ride, a Nitro Z-7, to a Bass Tracker equipped with a jet drive.

"When my brother first moved to Havasu, I was going out a lot and since he already had a bass boat out there I bought a jet," notes Bailey. "You can fish a lot of places you couldn't otherwise and we've done well in a lot of events at Havasu."

Bailey might have finished higher but his chances literally got short-circuited when his livewell stopped working.

"My brother got it fixed right away, it was just a short in the switch," said Bailey. "There are five wires that go into the switch and I couldn't figure it out. I kind of panicked. I had a good limit already and I actually thought I had more weight than I did. Otherwise I might have taken my chances and tried to get one more bed fish. But those fish I had were nice and healthy and I didn't want to kill any of them, so I went in."

Bailey has fished Shasta several times in tournaments and has two top 15 finishes. He's looking forward to the upcoming WON BASS event -- and not just for the chance to protect his points race lead.

"I looked at the points and said, there's no way I'm not fishing all the WON BASS events," said Bailey. "I do know the water pretty good. I can't wait, I'm leaving early Monday morning to go up to Shasta. Mostly I can't wait to go pull on 40 spots a day."

Headquarters will be the Bridge Bay Resort on Lake Shasta and check-in begins at noon on April 1. Call Sally Urena at 949-366-0030 ext. 38 to sign up.

The Bridge Bay Resort Hotel is offering a special $69 room rate to WON BASS anglers that will include free parking passes ($10 per day) and free boat launch passes ($15 per day). Bridge Bay Resort says boat rigs are welcome in the hotel parking lot, but requested that boats not be parked in the restaurant parking lot.

To book a room at the Bridge Bay Resort Hotel, located at 10300 Bridge Bay Road in Redding, CA 96003, phone 1 800-752-9669 and ask for the WON BASS group rate.